DoD on the Hill
Congress reconvenes: The Senate returned this week from its winter recess to begin the second session of the 111th Congress. The House held a pro forma session on January 5th and will return next week to begin its work. The Senate began to debate the House-passed bill to increase the public debt limit. The main issue this month will be the Health Care Reform bill. Congressional Democrats are working to resolve the differences between the House and Senate versions of the Bill. It remains unclear when negotiators will have a final bill ready for a vote. Some had hoped that the bill would be ready for the President's signature before he gave his State of the Union speech (normally presented to a joint session of Congress sometime in late January). House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has said that it was "possible" that they may finish by the end of the month.
Defense Budget and Financial Management News
FY2011 Budget countdown: The FY2011 federal budget is scheduled to go to Congress on Monday February 1, 2010. Highlights will track progress towards that date and provide readers with scheduling information (press conferences, congressional hearings, etc) as it becomes available.
FY2010 Enterprise Plan to be digital: The Business Transformation Agency (BTA) announced that the FY2010 Enterprise Transition Plan (ERT) will be entirely digital. The new electronic plan will replace earlier print versions that had become very bulky and increasingly difficult to use. The new digital version has been streamlined and will present program milestones for DoD's business information investments and IT systems in easy to use charts and graphs.
Other Issues of Interest
President issues executive order to set pay for FY2010: The President set pay levels (beginning January 11, 2010) for federal civilian employees (executive level, senior executives, and general schedule employees), uniformed military personnel, and judges. The pay levels (and locality pay) set in an executive order issued late last month comply with statutory pay caps and pay raises for civilian employees in the FY2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act, and for uniformed personnel in the FY2010 Defense Authorization Act. Tables attached to the executive order list the pay levels by grade/rank and by years of service for each category of pay plan. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) website includes a detailed explanation of each pay plan and their originating authorities.
GSA issues new POV reimbursement rates: Effective january 1, 2010,the new reimbursement rate for the use of privately-owned vehicles used for government business was set at 50 cents per mile. The new rate is 5 cents lower than the previous rate of 55 cents, which was set last January. This change marks the second consecutive rate reduction since it reached a high of 58.5 cents in March of 2008.
Secretary Gates agrees to stay on the job: According to Army Times and other news sources, Secretary Robert Gates has agreed to remain as Secretary of Defense at least through the end of 2010. Gates is the only holdover from the previous administration. Pentagon press spokesperson Geoff Morrell told reporters that the Secretary and the President agreed to review the situation again at the end of the year.
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